Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Anchorage is a Sanctuary City ??

Below is a list of cities and counties that have sanctuary policies, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service from June 2007.

Alaska

Anchorage

Fairbanks

......In May 2003, Alaska's state legislature passed a joint resolution prohibiting state agencies from using resources or institutions for the purpose of enforcing federal immigration laws.

Most cities that are considered sanctuary cities have adopted a "don't ask-don't tell" policy where they don't require their employees, including law enforcement officers, to report to federal officials aliens who may be illegally present in the country. Localities, and in some cases individual police departments, in such areas that are considered "sanctuary cities," have utilized various mechanisms to ensure that unauthorized aliens who may be present in their jurisdiction illegally are not turned in to federal authorities. Some municipalities address the issue through resolutions, executive orders or city ordinances, while many police departments address the issues through special orders, departmental policy and general order.

I will check on who is responsible, and what we can do about this....Update to follow.

UPDATE... It was HJR22 and SJR15 in 2003 that initiated this travesty... I copied the 'resolveds' from HJR22, but read it yourself here.

BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature supports the government of the United States of America in its campaign against terrorism, and affirms its commitment that the campaign not be waged at the expense of essential civil rights and liberties of citizens of this country contained in the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED that it is the policy of the State of Alaska to oppose any portion of the USA PATRIOT Act that would violate the rights and liberties guaranteed equally under the state and federal constitutions; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED that, in accordance with Alaska state policy, an agency or instrumentality of the State of Alaska, in the absence of reasonable suspicion of criminal activity under Alaska State law, may not

(1) initiate, participate in, or assist or cooperate with an inquiry, investigation, surveillance, or detention;

(2) record, file, or share intelligence information concerning a person or organization, including library lending and research records, book and video store sales and rental records, medical records, financial records, student records, and other personal data, even if authorized under the USA PATRIOT Act;

(3) retain such intelligence information; the state Attorney General shall review the intelligence information currently held by the state for its legality and appropriateness under the United States and Alaska Constitutions and permanently dispose of it if there is no reasonable suspicion of criminal activity; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED that an agency or instrumentality of the state may not,

(1) use state resources or institutions for the enforcement of federal immigration matters, which are the responsibility of the federal government;

(2) collect or maintain information about the political, religious, or social views, associations, or activities of any individual, group, association, organization, corporation, business, or partnership, unless the information directly relates to an investigation of criminal activities and there are reasonable grounds to suspect the subject of the information is or may be involved in criminal conduct;

/snowman..

OK, I must be missing something here. It starts off by talking about concern for citizens, not illegal aliens. Then it goes on to say immigration is the Fed's problem, and we're not going to help. Hmm, if some illegal alien decides to make a jihad attack and blow up the pipeline or torch the airport, is that still the Fed's problem?

Evidently the Alaska legislature is happy to be politically correct and keep their heads in the sand....and if the unthinkable happens, it is probably Bush's fault anyway.I still need to find the actual vote tally...but at least Ellis and Gutenberg should be held to account for this violence against our security.snowman/

UPDATE 2

Here's the house vote--looks like everyone voted for it, except Lynn.

05-12-2003 House Journal 1577

CSHJR 22(RLS) was read the third time.

The question being: "Shall CSHJR 22(RLS) pass the House?" Theroll was taken with the following result: